■ Curling
Six teams end in tie at top
Norway lost to Switzerland 8-6 in the final round of matches Thursday to fall into a six-way tie for first place at the curling world championship in Victoria, British Columbia. Norway, Scotland, Germany, the US, Canada and Finland all finished 8-3 in round-robin play at the 12-team tournament. Scotland and Germany will advance to the four-team playoffs as the top two seeds because of tiebreaking procedures. Norway will face the US today, and Canada will take on Finland -- with the winners also advancing.
■ Soccer
Fans build virtual stadium
Austrian soccer fans frustrated by snags in building a stadium for the 2008 European Championship have opted to build a virtual one of their own -- on the Internet. Software design company Datenkraft drew a virtual stadium and posted it on the Web (www.rettetdieem.at) after the proposed venue in Klagenfurt became bogged down in disputes over contract-bidding irregularities and government funding. Fans are invited to pick seats and pledge to purchase tickets -- all in support of having some of the Euro 2008 matches remain in Austria.
■ Asian Games
Vietnam enters bid to host
Vietnam's Olympic Committee said Friday it has entered a bid to host the 2014 Asian Games. The committee sent a letter to the Kuwait-based Olympic Council of Asia expressing its interests in organizing the region's biggest sporting event, said Nguyen Hong Minh, vice president of Vietnam's Olympic Committee. The OCA said in a statement earlier this week that India, Jordan and North Korea had also filed letters of intent by the March 31 deadline to bid for the quadrennial event.
■ Soccer
Meeting addresses racism
A two-day international conference on the fight against racism at soccer stadiums was to open in Bratislava, Slovakia capital Friday. Some 100 participants from 38 groups from around Europe which fight against racism in soccer were to participate in the conference organized by People Against Racism, a civic group. Guests at the conference were to include UEFA spokesman William Gaillard and EU Education Commissioner Jan Figel, organizers said. Slovakia, which is hosting the conference, has had its troubles with soccer-related racism in the past. In 2003, Slovakia was ordered to play a home game in an empty stadium because of racist chanting and crowd trouble during a 2004 European Championships qualifier against England. UEFA also fined the Slovak Football Federation. British officials said taunts aimed at black England players Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole were the worst they had heard at a soccer game. Baton-wielding Slovak police fought with thousands of English fans at the stadium. The English Football Association was also ordered to pay a fine because of bad fan behavior.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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